The Impact of Horse Race Coverage on Elections
Horse racing is a form of horseback riding in which participants compete against one another to win a race. The sport has a long history and is practised in many countries and cultures, including Ancient Greece, Rome, Babylon, Egypt, Syria, and Arabia. It has also been an important part of myth and legend, such as the contest between Odin’s steeds Hengest and Hrungnir in Norse mythology.
Media scholars have studied the impact of news stories that frame elections as a competitive game, with frontrunners and underdogs vying for support. These types of stories, often referred to as horse race coverage, can negatively affect voters, candidates and the news industry itself. In a study published in the journal Journalism Studies, Johanna Dunaway and Regina G. Lawrence analyzed 10,784 newspaper articles from 2004 to 2008 that covered state and national races for governor and U.S. senator, using a computer program to identify those that framed elections as a horse race. They found that horse race coverage was more prevalent in close races, and in the weeks leading up to an election. It was also more prevalent in newspapers owned by a large chain or those with a corporate parent.
The Palio di Siena is an annual horse race held twice each summer in the historic city of Siena, Italy. The event is a spectacle, in which each horse and rider represents one of seventeen Contrade. The horses are bred specifically for the race, and jockeys wear conventional racing silks. In the race, the horses travel along a straight 200-meter sand track featuring two hills, and compete under weights comparable to those of conventional races.
Injuries during horse races may occur due to a variety of reasons, such as overexertion or injury caused by an object. These injuries may result in the horse being pulled up or withdrawn from a race. When this occurs, a dead heat is declared. This means that a photograph of the finish is studied by the stewards to determine which horse crossed the line first, and the horse with the higher placing is declared as the winner.
The concept of what is “natural” has particular significance in the horse racing industry, and it guides breeding regulations and influences handling, training and racing practices that can potentially impact a racehorse’s welfare. This study used semi-structured interviews and photo-elicitation to explore how key industry and animal advocacy informants viewed these four common images of thoroughbreds on race day, and the role that naturalness played in their conceptualisations of them. The findings revealed that both groups tended to use assumptions about the “natural” nature of racehorses, and this had a pronounced effect on their interpretations of the images, and the role that they saw those images playing in the context of common racing practices. This finding suggests that a more nuanced approach to how we understand the behaviour of thoroughbreds in racing is required.